"The last twenty years or so, spiritual/new age authors have sent this message
to readers: "You have something broken about you and I can fix it."

Now a newer, truer message must be heard: "You are here to deliver a beautiful gift to
the world - and it's a gift that benefits everyone. Remember it, and get on with it."

ON SOME DAYS I read the paper, listen to the news, observe the world around me, and wonder what happened? How did greed, narcissism, self-entitlement and myopia become the fundamental law of behavior? When did American business become founded on lies? When did we lose the ability to recognize those lies? How did amnesia of the golden rule creep into our culture?

The spiritual principle of Generosity is fundamental in that the universe itself depends on radical giving for its own survival. Generosity existed in the creative flow of the cosmos long before humans showed up on the scene. In fact, Brian Swimme in his brilliant little book The Universe is a Green Dragon comments, "The ultimate source of all that is, the support and well being [of the universe], is Ultimate Generosity... the root reality of the universe is generosity of being" (146). The basic energy that burst forth out of the void 15 billion years ago, beginning the process that resulted in life on this planet, was a generous energy which gives itself again and again for expressing, recycling, expanding, and creating new forms.

From The Invisible Garment:

You are a representative of your soul, here to be generous. This means that not only are you a giver, but that you have made a sacred commitment to be conscious of the balance between giving and receiving. You are here to learn and express the great give away, which means that you are here to serve life and to live life fully. In a very real sense, you are not burdened with the mundane world the way many people are, because your innate understanding that life is a gift sets you free. You aren't a victim of life, you are a creator of life.

Generosity, then, evokes in us a need for a truthful perspective of the energies that create healthy life. One must give and receive in balance. As one receives, so one gives; conversely, as one gives, so one receives.

I read a story recently about a corn farmer in Ohio. Every year for seven years he won the first prize at the state fair for having the tastiest, healthiest crop in the corn belt. Every year, after the fair, he packaged up sacks of corn seeds from his award winning crop and delivered them to his neighbors. One of the judges heard about his habit and asked him, "Aren't you afraid one of your neighbors will take the blue ribbon next year? Why would you give away your carefully developed seeds?" The farmer replied, "The birds and the bees don't know one farm from another. They cross-pollinate from other fields into mine, and vice versa. The healthier my neighbors crop, the healthier mine. In my corner of the world, an unhealthy corn crop breeds an unhealthy community."

This story extends and applies to everyone's corner of the world, doesn't it? Those of us who are more fortunate simply must share with our neighbors, not only because it's the "right" thing to do, but because it perpetuates a healthy and prosperous life for us all. Why feed the poor? Because hunger breeds poverty, disease and crime in our world. Why rebuild New Orleans? Because disaster, displacement, and disenfranchisement breed bitterness and hatred in our world. Why run our businesses ethically? Because imbalance of opportunity and money breeds deep dissatisfaction and depression in our world.

This concept doesn't stop with humanity. We must also show generosity to our planet. We receive without limitation from the resources of nature, until we use those resources up. At that point, nature shrivels, species die, weather changes, and atmospheric adjustments occur. Generosity breeds plenty. Greed breeds need. Our responsibility to humanity and the cosmos is identical: we must live as though we are all one family, mutually supportive, because each other's successes are advantageous for us all.

The benefits of Generosity do not stop with materialistic and physical realities. Spiritual generosity is equally important. In addition to being shocked when I hear the daily news and recognize the misbehavior of our leaders and our misguided businessmen, I also find the spiritual aridity in our culture to be shocking.

It appears that the conservative Christian element in American culture uses intimidation and fear rather than generosity of spirit to spread their "good news." In addition, I see other fundamentalists in other religious sects identifying more with terror, isolationism, arrogance, and extremism than with loving kindness, unity, humility and expansion. Where and how does giving and receiving fit in our religions? What happened to caring for the poor, the sick, and the needy?

Spiritual generosity occurs when the practitioner fully realizes that life itself is the ultimate gift. You have already received beyond measure. God has bestowed life upon you. Giving back to life, in order to return the gift in equal measure is your only job. If you live outside that basic understanding, then your life will be one of struggle and limitation.

From The Invisible Garment:

It is time for all spiritual practitioners to become the agents of transformation. One's participation with the principle of Generosity demands that one not only transform oneself, but also that he or she give that transformation a form of expression. By living in a transformed state of consciousness one helps create patterns in the world that allow for a larger shift of consciousness.

Recently a group of my students gathered from all across the United States for a much-deserved retreat. We sat lazily one afternoon on a porch in South Texas, rocking, knitting, weaving, beading, and chatting. We discussed how in the few short years that we've studied and practiced our beliefs as a community, each of us has experienced profound transformation in our world view, in our thought patterns, in our capacity for compassion, and in our ability to love. We expressed to each other how much we long to share the benefits of our work with the world, and yet how limited we feel. We're just a small group of women who study a spiritual practice together. How can we impact the world?

Thankfully, in that moment the principle of Generosity blasted its way through our shield of littleness and into our hearts. By the end of that retreat, we had formed a new company. Our mission is fourfold:

We named our corporation Generosity Incorporated, because our fundamental intention is to incorporate (embody) the principle of Generosity and demonstrate its power in the waking world. We self-capitalized so that we wouldn't have to receive more before we could start giving. The businesses is rooted in giving, as each of us helped birth the business by investing in it.

As the angels said to me when this material first began to take form (see the above quote), the real agents of transformation in our culture are the spiritual practitioners. The religionists, mired in dogma and limited by separatist beliefs, cannot bring peace to the world. Generosity can and will be the bearer of peace.

Like the Ohio farmer, we spiritual practitioners, incorporating the principle of Generosity, will cross-pollinate ethical behavior, moral foundation, truth, and fearless philanthropy.

If you believe that you were born with a purpose - wearing an invisible garment woven with spiritual threads - then you must also know in your bones that everyone else was, also. Our worldly job, then, is to find and accomplish that purpose, while also creating circumstances and possibilities for all our neighbors to do the same. In order to do that, we must live in a world that recognizes, values and nurtures that purpose in every being, human and non-human. Generosity allows us to do just that. A generous person embodies her purpose and helps build a generous community. A generous community results from the deep understanding of the generous universe that gave birth to us.

As the summer begins, I encourage you to look for Generosity at work in your corner of the world. See it in the abundance of the plant world. See it in the sweetness of your animals. See it in the bodies of your friends as they peel off the winter wardrobe and put on their flip-flops to go romping in the sun.

Then look for the signs of Generosity in yourself. How do you incorporate/embody it? Do you use "them" and the way "they" act as an excuse to be greedy, self-entitled, narcissistic? Does rudeness take over your personality as an impotent means of self-protection? Or do you have the courage to experience the joy of giving?

In his last speech, delivered the night before his assassination, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. explained to the families and supporters of the striking sanitation workers in Memphis that any one African American family may feel too powerless to affect change. But as a community, the American Negro's financial potential alone (their collective earnings per annum) were more than most small nations in the world. Money is our primary energy exchange in today's world. If we spiritual practitioners use our money in direct alignment with the spirit of Generosity, we can and will be the agents of transformation.

Here are some specific steps to take:

Here is the bottom line, my friend. It's redundant for us to pray for the end of war, for we have the ability to end it ourselves. It's absurd for us to pray for the end of world hunger, for we have enough to feed everyone. It's ridiculous for us to pray for a solution to racism, for we have hearts that recognize unity. It's irrational for us to pray for the end of disease, for we have the mental capacity to find the cures for ourselves. Life has been generous with us. We must give back to Life.

© Connie Kaplan, 2006